The Algerian government, has declared a three-day of national mourning for the 77 people killed in a military passenger plane crash in the north-east of the country.
Just one person survived when the Hercules C-130 crashed into a mountain in Oum al-Bouaghi province, en route to Constantine, in bad weather conditions.
The President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika has praised the soldiers who died in the crash as “martyrs”.
Most of the 78 passengers were military personnel and their family members.
The lone survivor, a soldier, is reportedly being treated for head injuries at a military hospital in Constantine.
The defence ministry said it had set up a commission to investigate the crash and that Ahmed Gaid Salah, who is both army chief of staff and deputy defence minister, would go to the crash site.
Local television showed footage of the aftermath of the plane crash. Security sources and state media originally reported 103 people on board the flight, but the number was later revised down by the military to 78.
“I saw the military plane crashing, and it was cut into two pieces,” a fire fighter, Mohamed, told Reuters news agency at Ouled Gacem, near the crash site.
Women and children were among the bodies recovered from the crash site.
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